Will sat up straight. Now this interested him. A lot.
"I went back to 12 Grimmauld Place a few days ago." Black's expression grew complicated. The house was clearly full of unpleasant memories. "Cleaned it up a bit."
"The library's three floors below the old house. The books in there... honestly, I've never looked through them carefully.
"The Black family collected all sorts of things over more than a dozen centuries, from standard magical texts to forbidden books on Dark Magic, from studies of Ancient Runes to works on Muggle philosophy and psychology. Yes, you heard that right. One of my great-great-great-great-grandfathers was obsessed with Muggle thought for a while, though the rest of the family sneered at him for it."
Sylvia asked curiously, "Are there many books on Dark Magic?"
Black shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. But there are enough books down there to fill half of the Hogwarts Library. Magical Theory, Ancient Runes, Alchemy, Magizoology, even some obscure research into emotional magic. You can read whatever you like and take whatever you need, as long as you don't pass any of it around.
"Hey, Will, watch it. Your eyes are practically glowing."
Of course Will's eyes were shining. The Black family's library was priceless. It wasn't merely a collection of books, but the knowledge and power an ancient pure-blood family had accumulated over more than a dozen centuries.
As far as Will was concerned, Black really was a spendthrift through and through. But he had to admit, this was a wonderful offer.
"Thank you, Black," Will said sincerely.
"Just call me Sirius." Black waved a hand. "I'm the one who should be thanking you, for more than one thing."
He lowered his voice. "You've helped Remus a lot. I know about the Werewolf Venom Curse. That's worth far